Max's Solution
by gawilliams
Summary: Max pays a visit to the people who he feels are keeping his baby girl from being happy, namely from being with Booth.
1. Chapter 1

_This is one that I have been considering for some time. It's going to be a three chapter arc that has as it's central theme Max making it clear who he wants as Bones' significant other. Each chapter will be a different confrontation, and each one will be very short. I hope you enjoy this first one. Gregg._

_Disclaimer: I don't own, or profit from, these characters or franchise. No copyright infringement is intended._

Andrew Hacker was on top of the world. He'd just come back from a lunch with Dr. Temperance Brennan and was sure that this weekend would be the weekend he would finally have her in bed. The last couple of weeks he'd been hinting hard at that goal, as she had come to him asking if he wanted to have lunch one afternoon. Did he? Hell yes! He'd been aching to have the lovely Temperance since the first moment he'd laid eyes on her. Now it seemed as if his dream would become a reality. He was smiling and practically strutting as he walked into his office, closing the door. He froze. Someone was in his office and sitting in his chair! Turned away from him no less!

"Alright, who the Hell are you and what are you doing sitting in _**MY**_ chair?" he demanded. His face paled and he almost pissed his pants when he saw who was in the chair as it slowly turned to face him.

"Call me Max," Max Keenan, Temperance Brennan's father, said with a grin. "I think it's time we had a little chat. Don't you?"

"Chat?" Hacker managed to squeak out. This was the guy who'd killed the Deputy Director of the FBI and torched the body! This was the guy no one wanted on anywhere near them if he was in a pissed off mood. This was the guy who'd beaten a murder wrap for the killing of the Deputy Director. The absolute _**LAST**_ thing on this Earth that Andrew Hacker wanted was to have a _chat_ with this guy! He was so scared out of his mind that he didn't even think to wonder how this guy had gotten into the building and up to his office.

"You are trying to get into my little girl's pants, aren't you?" Max asked, grin still in place, but a piercing glare evident in the eyes.

Hacker added almost totally losing control of his bowels to the list of bodily functions on the chopping block when Max said that. "Uh...," he tried to think of something to say, and utterly failed. His usual self important panache was utterly failing him now with this killing machine in front of him staring him down. And that damn smile!

"Let me give it to you straight," Max said, still grinning. He clapped a hand on Hacker's shoulder. "My little girl is having a rough time right now, and isn't very happy. There's only one person who can make her happy. I think we both know who that is, right?"

Hacker nodded his head rapidly, knowing without a doubt the dangerous man with the hand on his shoulder was talking about none other than Booth. Sweat was now pouring off of his paler than usual face.

"I love Tempe, and let her down bad when she was young," Max continued. "Since I've been back, I've seen her grow a lot, and smile, really smile, when only one person is around. Booth. She wants him, but for some reason isn't able to make a forward step. If she gets together with some kiss ass pansy like you, it's going to kill any chance she has to be really happy in life. You know how she's going to be happy in life?"

"Being with Booth?" Hacker, in a _**very**_ shaky voice, managed to stutter.

"Exactly," Max beamed. "Maybe you're not as much of a dunce as I thought you were. But I digress. I think you need to back off of Tempe. Permanently. Because if I find that my baby girl isn't going to be happy in this life, and it was because she got messed up with you...," Max chuckled and grinned wider. "Let's just say I'll be paying you another visit and I won't be here to just have a friendly little chat. Understand?"

Hacker nodded his head in agreement so hard he felt his neck almost snap in two. He also felt a warm feeling running down his leg, and knew he's just pissed himself.

Max curled his nose up a bit. "You gotta take a vacation and get those nerves under control, Boy," he advised. "I sure hope you have a change of clothes in here. Well," he clapped his hand on Hacker's shoulder and smiled once more, "I have another couple of people that I need to see today. Remember what I said, and we won't have any trouble. Later," he said as he made his way out the door.

Hacker stood there shaking like a leaf. He pulled out his cell phone and with a shaky hand, he dialed Temperance's number. He pleaded with God that she would pick up.

"_Andrew_?" came the voice that he now hoped never to hear unless it was strictly business related.

"Uh, Temperance, I need to cancel our dinner plans," Hacker said, bringing as much steadiness into his voice as he could manage. "I need to be out of town for a time, and found out I need to leave after work today."

"_I'm sorry to hear that_," Brennan said over the cell. "_We can reschedule when you get back_."

"No!" he said hurriedly. "Don't wait on my account. I've been thinking about this, and perhaps this isn't such a good idea, what with me being Booth's supervisor and all."

"_Alright_," Brennan said, her voice expressing her confusion, but accepting it nonetheless. "_Have a good trip_."

"Thank you, Temperance," Hacker said and ended the call right then.

Hacker made his way, awkwardly as his pants leg was now wet with his humiliating lack of bladder control, to his desk and sat down heavily. He made some plans. He was sure that Max Keenan would have an alibi that would place him anywhere but at the Hoover Building, and also that no one would remember seeing him, and no security cameras would have him in the building. So Andrew Hacker was going to first arrange a long vacation away, then put in the paperwork for a possible transfer to a nice, safe posting with an embassy in the Middle East, and then he was going to make an appointment with his minister and have a long talk confessing anything and everything that he'd done that wasn't quite kosher in God's eyes since he'd last been to church a number of years before. Right about now he needed all the help he could get. He picked up his office phone and rang his aide.

"Tim?" he asked. "Could you run over to my place and get me a clean pair of pants and boxers? I spilled some coffee all over mine and don't have a change of clothes." He waited a minute. "Thanks Tim. I'll just be right here waiting."

He pulled out a can of air freshener and began spraying for all he was worth to make sure that the rank scent of urine was not in evidence in the office for when Tim returned. Now he just wanted this day to end so he could go home and begin packing for his nice long trip and leave this nightmare behind him. Maybe a life of celibacy was the way to go. That way he wouldn't have to worry about anymore Max Keenan's in the world paying him surprise visits.

_A/N: Like I said, it's short. I don't see Max mincing words, and any friendly little "chats" with him would likely be short and to the point. I am also writing these from the perspective of the person he's visiting. Next up with be a visit with Sweets. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Gregg._


	2. Chapter 2

_I'm overwhelmed at the incredible response to the first chapter to this one. Thank you very much. In this one, Max takes his need to protect and help Bones to the next logical person who's muddied the waters a bit. That person, of course, is Sweets. I hope you all enjoy this one. Gregg._

_Disclaimer: I don't own, or profit from, these characters or franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. _

Dr. Lance Sweets was in a quandary. He needed to figure out what he was going to do about his two favorite people in the world, Special Agent Booth and Dr. Brennan. Mistakes had been made, and now the whole dynamic of their partnership, indeed the clearly love filled relationship, was in jeopardy. He knew that he was partly to blame for it, and he felt horrible about it, but he needed to come up with something that would bring those two back together and quickly. He could only imagine what Booth would do to him if Dr. Brennan actually slept with Hacker. No. He didn't want to imagine what the Army Ranger trained former sniper would do to him. There wouldn't be enough left of him for Daisy to even do a forensic identification on. He clutched the large jar of jelly beans tighter into his arms as he walked into his office, closing his door. It was later in the afternoon and he'd sent his secretary home for the day. That was when he noticed someone in his chair, back to him.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Just looking up at your diplomas and licensing certificates," one Max Keenan, smile in place said as he swiveled around in the chair to face Sweets.

Even though he liked Max, and considered him a good man, there was also a certain queasy sense of dread when he saw the man who was a known murderer, despite his acquittal.

"Max," Sweets squeaked, then coughed and got his voice back in order. "Max," he said again. "Did we have an appointment or something I wasn't aware of?"

Max stood and took a seat on the love seat that his daughter and Booth always sat on for their sessions. "Nah," Max said in his best 'I'm your buddy' voice. "I just wanted to have a little chat about Booth and my daughter."

Alarm bells went off in Sweets head at that very moment. Uh, oh. This couldn't be good. "You know, Max, I can't really discuss anything with you as they are still seeing me in therapy," he managed to get out before his throat squeezed itself shut.

"Did I say I wanted you to do the talking?" Max said with his trademark grin.

"Well, I just assumed," Sweets tried to gesture meaninglessly all the while wishing he could just blend in with the upholstery. As it was he just wrapped his arms around the large jar of jelly beans even tighter.

"I've been doing a little checking," Max continued as if Sweets hadn't said anything at all. "Now correct me if I'm wrong, but Booth and my daughter have been seeing you for going on three years now?"

"Just about," Sweets said, feeling beads of perspiration forming on his forehead.

"And two years ago when Booth was shot you were the one who told the Bureau not to tell her he was alive and undercover, right?" Max asked. He had decided to ask a few questions first. He liked Sweets, after all. He would kill for his daughter, and scare the piss out of anyone who had done what Sweets had over the last couple of years, but he would at least allow the kid to fess up first. Confession was good for the soul, after all.

"Yes," Sweets blanched and managed to get out the answer in a squeaky, whistling tone.

"And how long was my baby girl left in the dark?" Max asked.

"Tw-...Two weeks," Sweets eked out with deep reluctance. The squeaky tone was still very evident.

"And what did you tell Booth about certain brain scans last year when my baby girl got back from Guatemala?" Max asked.

The sweat was really rolling now. "Uhhh... that, uh, the before and after scans showed, uh, that, well, Booth wasn't really in love with, uh, Dr. Brennan, and that he shouldn't tell her that he was in love with her," Sweets said, now very worried about this little 'chat'.

"And just recently what did you recommend that Booth do?" Max asked, his smile still firmly in place, leaning back in the love seat as if he was there for a pleasant session.

"That, uh, he needed to be the one to take a chance and tell Dr. Brennan how he really feels," Sweets admitted as rapidly as he could.

Max got up and paced a bit. "We have a problem, Lance. Can I call you Lance?" Max asked rhetorically, not even bothering to wait for an answer. "We have a problem, Lance. My baby girl isn't happy."

Sweets gulped hard. "Really?" he croaked. He knew it was true, but he was really fearing for his life here, so playing dumb might be his best shot.

"Really," Max confirmed. "You see, Lance. I want my baby girl to be happy. That's all I really want. But a few flies have been found in the ointment."

"Oh?" Sweets whispered, his answers to the questions Max had asked him looming ominously in front of his mind.

"I already took care of one this afternoon," Max casually admitted. He knew that there would be no evidence of his meeting with Hacker, so he could say this out loud. Especially seeing as he'd disabled Sweets' recording equipment.

If it were possible, Sweets got even paler at that statement.

"You know why my daughter thinks so little of psychology, Lance?" Max asked.

"Soft science?" Sweets managed to get out.

"She got that from me," Max smiled wider. "Though not for the same reasons. She thinks that anything that can't be analyzed scientifically and quantified is too open to interpretation and _**manipulation**_," he continued, placing significant emphasis on the word manipulation. He saw Sweets' eyes dart to the glass wall at the front of his office, obviously looking for someone to get him out of this nightmare. That only made Max grin more. "For me, though? It's nothing so dramatic. For me, it all boils down to ethics. Hey, don't get me wrong. Psychology is a necessary part of knowledge and understanding, but the problem is, it's just too easy to slip into unethical behavior."

"Unethical?" Sweets gasped. Oh, shit! He could see his career being flushed down the toilet right then.

Max sighed and shook his head. "All the theories and conjectures in psychology may be beneficial and accurate, but they are also too vague, from a scientific standpoint, to keep the potential for unethical manipulation to a minimum," he explained. Then he focused his smile, and his piercing eyes, right on Sweets. "I despise unethical behavior, Lance. And where my daughter and Booth are concerned you've been a very bad boy."

The large jar of jelly beans that Sweets had been holding slipped from his hands and landed on the floor, spilling the candy in all directions. His voice was gone, he was sweating profusely. Maybe he should have worked on achieving a much safer career, like bomb disposal.

"All I want in this world is for my little girl to be happy," Max told the young psychologist. "I let her down really bad when she was fifteen, and I'm paying for that every day, but what hurts me the most is that she pays for it a Hell of a lot more than I do." Max took a seat again right across from Sweets. "I've been watching her very closely the last couple of years, and you know what?"

"What?" Sweets asked, his voice now back to a whisper. He was so scared out of his mind right at that moment it was a miracle he wasn't shaking hard enough to snap his spine in two. The really pathetic part was that Max hadn't threatened him, or done anything other than point out actual facts. No wonder the man was so dangerous.

"In all that time, the only times I've ever seen her smile, really smile in happiness, is when she's with Booth," Max explained. "But then I ask myself why she isn't with him. There are a lot of reasons, and I'm not going to lay blame on any one person, but Lance, like it or not, you're a big part of the reason. Which makes you partly responsible for my baby girl not being truly happy."

Sweets gulped. "I guess if you put it that way," he stammered.

Max stood up. "Thanks for the talk, Lance," Max said, another smile on his face. "I've been needing to get that off my chest for a while now. You could do me one favor, though."

"Anything!" Sweets shot out instantly. Anything to make this nightmare go away.

"Quit making a mess of my daughters' and Booths' happiness," Max asked. "Because if you don't, I'll be back, and next time it won't be for just a chat," he said, clapping his hand on Sweets' shoulder. "See you later, Kid," he said as he walked out of the office, leaving the terrified psychologist sitting there now clutching a pillow to his chest.

After ten minutes of sitting there, scared out of his gourd, Sweets pulled it together enough to pull out his cell phone and make an appointment with his own therapist for the next morning. Not just an hour session, but the whole morning. He had a feeling that it was going to be needed. Then he cleared all his appointments for the next day, rescheduling them throughout the week. After that he called Daisy.

"_Lancelot!_" Daisy's excited and hyper voice shouted from the cell phone.

"Uh, Daisy?" he asked. "Can we just skip dinner and head home after work instead?"

Daisy's giggle could be heard clearly. "_Does my Lancelot want to sharpen his _**LANCE**_ a little early tonight_?" she teased, a sexy undercurrent in her hyper voice.

Despite how scared he was right then, he smiled at Daisy's eagerness for sex. That was one thing he could always count on in this world. Maybe a few rounds of energetic sex would help eliminate the excess fight or flight response that was coursing through his body at that moment. "As early as possible," Lance said after another moment.

"_I'll be right over to pick you up, Lancelot!_" Daisy said and hung up.

Sweets looked down on the candy all over the floor and decided to leave it. Grabbing his jacket, he left the office and made his way down to the parking garage, all the while wondering what he'd done to deserve his life becoming one giant nightmare. He also began planning on his to convince Booth and Brennan that a relationship was the most logical step of all in their partnership/friendship. Maybe if he pulled that off, and it didn't backfire, Max would come by and offer him a drink, or an apology. Nah. No way would he get an apology from Max, but he would settle for being friends again. Right now, he was just glad he hadn't pissed his pants, though it had been a very close call back in the office. As he got off the elevator he heard the squeal of tires as he saw Daisy driving way too fast come to a screeching halt a few feet away. At least he had Daisy to give him some comfort.

_A/N: Kind of a lame ending considering the chapter to that point, but while I wanted Max to throw a scare into Sweets for being part of the problem, I also wanted Sweets to have something to hold onto, so to speak, for the future. I hope you all enjoyed this one. Gregg._


	3. Chapter 3

_The response to the first two chapters to this story have been great. I'm enjoying writing this one, and have decided to do this chapter, and then one more to close it out. I hope you enjoy this one. Gregg._

_Disclaimer: I don't own, or profit from, these characters or franchise. No copyright infringement is intended._

Cam and Angela were a bit unsure of what was going on as they entered the diner. All they knew was that Max Keenan had asked to see them and suggested the Diner. They saw Hodgins already sitting there and were a bit surprised.

"Jack?" Angela asked when they came up to them.

"Oh, hey Ange," Hodgins said as he stood. "Cam."

"What are you doing here, Jack?" Cam asked.

"I don't know," Jack shrugged his shoulders. "I got a call from Max and he asked me to be here. You guys?"

"The same," Angela replied.

"Great! You're all here!" Max said as he walked up to them, his grin firmly in place. "Have you ordered yet?"

"We just got here," Cam said, slowly and with suspicion. She'd heard some disturbing rumors about a couple of "visits" that Max had paid to Hacker and Sweets the day before, so she was immediately on edge. What made her even more nervous was the fact that just this morning Hacker had asked for a demotion to Special Agent status and a five year posting to the US Embassy in Baghdad. Cullen, who had never really liked Hacker, had approved the request and Hacker was clearing out his office at that moment.

"Well, order up," Max said. "My treat."

"So what's this all about, Max?" Hodgins asked as the food arrived a few minutes later. He took a deep drink of his soda, and almost had a heart attack at Max's words.

"I'm really disappointed at how the three of you have failed to make my baby girl happy," Max said firmly, his smile, as always, in place. He enjoyed the speechless goldfish routine that Cam had going on, the look of shock and indignation that Angela was giving him, and the look of wanting to sink into the floor that Hodgins had. Evidently the rumor mill about his _**supposed**_ visits to Hacker and Sweets had made it to the Jeffersonian. Good.

"What have we done?" Angela demanded when she got her voice back.

"How does that saying go?" Max looked up wistfully. "'Let me count the ways?'"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cam asked indignantly.

"Didn't you hook up with Booth when you first began working at the Jeffersonian?" Max asked rhetorically as they all knew the answer to that. "And didn't you recommend to Booth after Tempe got back from Guatemala a few months ago that he hold off on telling her that he loves her?"

Cam shrank from the glares that Angela and Hodgins shot her over that last one. "Yes," she admitted.

"And Angela," Max turned the conversation over to her.

"Me?" Angela asked, shocked. What the Hell had she done?

"Aren't you the one always confusing Tempe about men?" Max asked.

"I have not!" Angela shot back very indignantly.

"Haven't you?" Max asked. "What about when you knew how she felt about Booth and yet were encouraging her to hook up with Sully once she accepted a dinner date with that guy? Or how about all the encouraging advice about going clubbing to look for men? Or how about doing nothing but asking for all the _**juicy**_ details when she tried to have the two boyfriends? From the looks of it you've been doing plenty of encouraging, but in the wrong direction."

"He's got a point, Ange," Hodgins pointed out. He shut up when he got a fierce glare from Angela by way of reply.

"And what about you, Hodgins?" Max asked.

"Me!" Hodgins about soiled himself. He, too, had heard the rumors about Max's visits to Hacker and Sweets. He wanted no part of that stuff! Not if Hacker was _**voluntarily**_ going to Baghdad for five years! He'd also heard that Sweets was looking over his shoulder every two seconds as if he was afraid of someone coming up behind him. Nuh, uh! Hodgins wanted nothing to do with this! He'd rather meet up with Angela's pissed off Dad in a dark alley somewhere and take his chances that way.

"How could you not keep Booth from having wandering eyes on occasion?" Max asked. "That Perrotta girl, for starters, and then this latest gal, Catherine I think her name is?"

"What was I supposed to do?" Hodgins demanded, trying to ignore the stares from Cam and Angela who were enjoying seeing him squirm far too much in his opinion.

"Sit his ass down and tell him to get his head out of his ass and keep his attention focused on the real deal," Max explained.

"Whoah, hold the phone, Max," Hodgins protested. "I mean, I like Booth, but we aren't bosom buddies! He threatens to shoot me a few times a month, for God's sake!"

"Doesn't matter," Max brushed the comments aside. "The fact is my baby girl isn't happy, and the three of you are part of the mess that's keeping her from being happy. Now we need to decide what to do about it."

All three paled. They did not like the sound of that one bit. Cam knew that Booth despised anyone interfering in his personal life, and she was still amazed, despite knowing her for three years now, that he allowed Temperance Brennan to be as involved in his personal life as she was. Angela was not too keen on the idea, as she knew that Brennan was in a difficult time right then. She'd rejected Booth not too long ago, and she'd clammed up pretty tight about it. If anyone pressed, she may regress to where she was five years ago, which no one wanted to see happen. As for Hodgins, he could see Booth beating him to a pulp and spending a number of painful days in the hospital, and then a few months of painful physical therapy if he did anything and it backfired. The worst part for all three was that Max was even scarier than the alternative.

Max laid out his plan and as he'd known, the other three hadn't liked it. Not one bit.

"No way!" all three said simultaneously.

Max just grinned even wider. "I had a feeling you'd say that," he replied. The he played his hand. "Dr. Soroyan? How would you feel if I let it be known that you slept with your professor of surgery the week before finals in Med School?"

Cam paled. That was so not fair! She'd been at a party and had gotten horribly drunk and woke up with the guy! Sure, it sounded bad, but it had some mitigating circumstances. That's not what people would care about, though. She would love to know who told Max that juicy bit of info!

"I'm in," she said with a scathing look at Max.

"And Angela," Max continued.

"Hey!" Angela said with some serious indignation. "I'm as clean as the Preacher's sheets, Max!"

"Oh?" Max said in that infuriatingly polite tone of his. "So everyone knows that you worked as a topless waitress your senior year of college at a lap dance club?"

It was Angela's turn to pale now. She wasn't ashamed of her past, and it had been a very good way to earn money for someone who wasn't ashamed of revealing her body, but in this day of political correctness, and the stodgy conservative do gooders who oversaw the Jeffersonian, it would not look good at all.

"I'm in," she glared at Max, and then gave Hodgins a look that said he'd be a dead man if a word of this got out to anyone.

"And then there's you, Jack," Max said, his smile even wider.

"Hey now, there's no way you have something on me," Jack defended himself. He paid to much money to sanitize his own record given his more, ahem, indiscreet youthful transgressions.

"So people know that when you got your PhD you celebrated with a whole month in a rented room in a brothel in Bangkok, Thailand in the red light district Patpong?" Max asked.

Jack gave a sickly grin, feeling his lunch coming up, but he squelched the puking for the time being. He noticed the rather disgusted looks that Cam and Ange were shooting him at that very moment.

"Could I say someone kidnapped me and made me do disgusting things in the sex capitol of the world?" Jack tried.

"That the best you could come up with?" Max grinned.

"I'm in," Jack caved.

"A month with cheap whores!" Angela hissed at Jack.

"I was 23 and had a shit load of money from my trust funds that just got released to me," Jack hissed back. "Believe it or not, I was not a roaring success with the ladies in college!"

"Hold on you two," Max shushed them. "You can argue about who had the most morally corrupt past later. For now, I expect each of you to do your part in this plan, which I will be putting into play tomorrow."

"I'll have my part done," Jack said, thinking of his coming credit card bill after this one. Not that he normally cared about such things, but his accountant, who got all his bills and took care of them, would be calling and asking for an explanation.

"I know what to do," Angela nodded. Then she looked at Hodgins. "And tonight you can explain what you were thinking paying to get laid non-stop for a month!"

"Yes, Dear," Jack replied, wincing at the thought of the coming conversation. He only hoped that this info didn't get back to her Dad somehow. He was sure that the buzzards would be feasting instead of circling this time if that happened.

"And I'll come up with some reason that the lab will have to be closed for a few days," Cam pouted. If she ever found out who squealed about her medical school indiscretion, she would be committing murder!

"Great!" Max grinned. "Thanks for the help, Guys! I gotta go and get my end ready."

They watched as Max waltzed out of the Diner. Then they looked at each other and started arguing over who was the most to blame for this disaster. The waitresses and the cooks only shook their heads and laughed to themselves. Life was never dull with the group from the Jeffersonian.

_A/N: I deliberately left out the plan so that I could reveal it in the next chapter, which will be the last one for this story. I hope you enjoyed this one as it was along the same lines as the first two, but wasn't as threatening as much as it was embarrassing for the _**victims**_ of Max's attention. Gregg._


	4. Chapter 4

_Well, here it is. The last chapter to this one. Thank you so much for the great reviews and responses to it. I wrote the first chapter on a whim and it turned into what you have read thus far. I hope you enjoy this one, no matter how "out in left field" it may be. Gregg._

_Disclaimer: I don't own, or profit from, these character or franchise. No copyright infringement is intended._

Booth was not in a good mood when there was a loud banging on his door. He reluctantly got up and went to answer it. He was shocked when he saw a wet, obviously angry, Bones standing there with a couple of suitcases and an overnight bag.

"Bones!" he said in surprise. He was so shocked he actually forgot his manners.

"Are you going to let me in?" Bones demanded in a huffy tone. She'd had a miserable day and her late afternoon and evening thus far was even worse.

"Oh!" Booth said as he stood aside and watched as she entered, her luggage in tow. "Uh, Bones? What's going on?" he asked.

"You've got a house guest for a couple of days," she announced, not in the mood to debate, or engage in pleasantries. This was embarrassing enough as it was. She flung off her drenched trench coat and handed it to Booth who immediately hung it on the coat rack, not bothering to worry about the dripping water. It had been pouring like a damn monsoon out all day.

"House guest?" he asked as he followed her to his living room. "I already have one!"

Bones whirled and glared. "Catherine?" she demanded. She knew she was showing her intense jealousy, and the anger she felt towards herself over being so foolish as to reject Booth a few weeks before, but she was too tired, cold, and wet to give a damn.

"Actually," Booth started, but halted when the front door opened.

"Ah! You're here, Baby," Max said with his best father loves daughter grin in place. "I wouldn't have expected you here for another couple of hours as stubborn as you are."

Bones ignored him and whirled back to Booth. "My Father is your house guest?" she said angrily. What about her? Didn't she rate her Father at least _asking_ if he could stay with her for a short time?

"He showed up an hour ago," Booth explained. "I can't turn him out into the streets, Bones."

Then something Max had said caught her attention. She whirled on Max now. "You expected me to be here a couple of hours from now?" she questioned archly.

"I planned all this," Max said with a grin.

"Planned what?" Booth asked, now getting a bit upset himself. He didn't like being set up for anything.

"Sitting you two down and having a little chat," Max said with a knowing smile.

"What did you do?" Booth asked again, making it more clear.

"Had the lab closed for four days, had Hodgins pay to have every vacant hotel room become unavailable in the reasonable area, arranged for Angela's apartment to be completely fumigated under a tent..." he said, giving the impression that there was a lot more, but not tipping his hand.

"Why?" Bones demanded, seething now. "I couldn't even get a room in any of those disgusting pay by the hour motels!"

"Why would you need a hotel?" Booth asked.

"Some structural work on her building for a few days," Max grinned.

"Let me guess," Booth offered. "You conned Hodgins into paying for it all?

"He can afford it," Max shrugged. "It worked, didn't it? You two in the same room with me?"

"Why?" Bones demanded once more, her tone lowering into that dangerous one that Booth had heard once or twice before and the results hadn't been pretty those times for the criminals that she'd used it on.

"Because, Baby, the two of you are too damn stubborn for your own good," Max told her. He looked at Booth. "Easy, Kid. I may be older, but I can still make that shot to the jewels feel like a love pat if you push me on this."

Booth cringed as he remembered Max hitting him square on the balls a couple of years before. There was no way he was about to experience that again if he didn't have to.

"You're behind Andrew suddenly leaving for Baghdad!" Bones put it together in her extremely active and laser like mind.

"Yep," Max said with a grin. He'd enjoyed making that putz piss himself.

"Great job, Max!" Booth said with a grin. When he'd heard the news of Hacker hightailing it to a virtual war zone, he'd known that someone must have scared the crap out of him. Now that pansy was out of his hair once and for all, and more importantly away from Bones! Then he did a little deduction of his own. "And you're also behind Sweets afraid of his own shadow now!"

"I just let him know that his roadblocks in the way of my baby's happiness weren't appreciated," Max shrugged, a mischievous grin on his face.

"I am responsible for my own happiness!" Bones objected vehemently.

"And sleeping with Hacker would have made you happy?" Max demanded to know, cutting out all pretense.

"You slept with Hacker already?" Booth shouted, not having wanted that info at all!

"Of course not," Bones told him. "I barely like him, but as he is someone I could _**possibly **_utilize to relieve my urges with since you so obviously have moved on as you told me you were going to, I had lunch with him a couple of times."

"I moved on because you rejected me!" Booth shot back. In a way he felt like this was a good conversation because at least they were talking about it, well, shouting, instead of her stomping all over his heart without letting him get a word in edgewise to plead his case.

"**ENOUGH!**" Max shouted and glared at both of them, his smile no longer in evidence. "Sit down!" he commanded both of them pointing to the couch, making damn sure that they were practically fused together before he stopped glaring and pointing.

"This is my apartment, Max," Booth pointed out indignantly, seeing that Bones was almost speechless. He'd have to file that memory away as he could never remember her being speechless before.

"And I'm your landlord as I arranged to buy the building today with a small gift from Hodgins," Max said, now holding the trump card.

"Crap," Booth muttered. He'd settle Hodgins' hash when this was over. Maybe a well placed gunshot wound in the ass, or possibly the kneecap? Making it possible for Max to become his landlord was so not cool!

"Which reminds me," Max said. "New rule. Unless it's Tempe, Parker's Mom, Cam, or Angela there's no girls in the apartment."

"WHAT?" Booth shouted.

"That's a very sensible rule," Bones said from her seat. She'd go along with any rule that kept women away from Booth's bed.

"Shut up, Bones," Booth said in a pout.

"Both of you shut up," Max directed. "Now, I'm going to have my say, and then the two of you are going to be locked in this apartment until the two of you come to your senses." He paused and made a chopping motion with his hand when the inevitable protest started. "Zip it! I'm talking. Now the two of you have acted like idiots the last five years and it's going to stop."

"We are hardly idiots," Bones said harshly.

"When it comes to each other, you most definitely are, Baby," Max said sadly. "So, I'm going to say a few things, and then the two of you are going to be stuck in here until you come to your senses once and for all."

"_**WHAT!**_" came the expected outraged exclamation in unison.

"Didn't I tell you?" Max grinned. "The whole floor is going to be quarantined for the next 96 hours beginning in 20 minutes. I have a little arrangement with the Health Department, courtesy of a generous donation from Hodgins and a sworn statement from Cam."

"_**96 HOURS!**_" was the next shouted outrage.

"I said I was doing the talking," Max reminded them. Then he began pacing. "A father only wants his kids to be happy. I'm a Father, so it should be obvious that I want only for my Baby Girl to be happy. So I spend a lot of time in the last few years observing, making notes and what do I discover? There's only one thing that makes my Baby Girl happy."

"Work," Bones interjected quickly.

"Nice try, Baby, but dead wrong," Max said, a sympathetic smile on his face. "There's only one thing that has made Tempe really happy. Booth."

"Me?" Booth cried out. Not that he was really against that idea, but he wanted to survive this conversation and with Bones sitting right next to him, he was a serious risk of having her rip his manhood off if he said the wrong thing.

"You're not that naïve Booth," Max said with a withering look. "Remember the jewels, Son."

"Keen eye, Max," Booth said instantly. That got him a quick kick to his ankle from Bones. "OW!" he said out loud.

"The boy has taste, Tempe," Max chided her. "Why else would he remain celibate for the last two and a half years despite all the offers?"

Booth wanted to sink into the floor right at that moment. The open mouthed stare that Bones was giving him wasn't helping. He would love to kill Sweets right at that moment. The walking pimple was the only one he'd revealed that pathetic secret to. He made a mental note to make sure that Sweets learned very soon just how accurate a shot he was at long distances.

"Now that's devotion, Tempe," Max told his daughter. "And what does it say when after all the Hell you have each put each other through at times, you still are more worried about hurting the other than your own happiness. So. I think the two of you need some time to talk, and I mean honestly. So the two of you are under quarantine. No computers, no lab, no work, and no phones. You're locked in and have to deal with this once and for all. Bye, Kids," he said as he walked out the door and left them.

"_**This is all your fault!**_" they shouted in unison at each other loud enough that Max heard it as he stood out in the hallway. He smiled as he walked out of the building and to his van where he had the audio equipment to be entertained by the next 96 hours of happenings in Booth's apartment.

**96 Hours Later, the door to Booth's Apartment**

Max, a smile firmly in place given that he had listened in for the first 48 hours, opened the door to Booth's apartment moments before they would have to leave in order to go to work. What he saw brought a deeper smile to his face. There were Booth and his Baby Girl standing there in a firm embrace with a liplock that would have done anyone proud. He slowly closed the door and walked away knowing that his solution to the problem of his daughters happiness had worked. Now all he had left to do was to give friendly little reminders to his three, **_reluctant_**, cohorts that there would be no more interfering with his Baby Girl's happiness.

_A/N: There it is. Max's Solution. Hodgins buying out all vacant hotel rooms in the DC area, Angela allowing her building to be fumigated under a tent, and Cam closing the lab for four days forcing Booth and Bones to be together in close quarters. Naturally Max buying Booth's building and arranging a quarantine was all a part of it, too. Like I said, over the top, but with those two stubborn individuals it was necessary. LOL. For me, Hacker volunteering to go to Baghdad for five years was a nice bonus, as well as Sweets constantly in fear of his own shadow. I hope you all enjoyed this one. Thank you for the great reviews and support for this story. Greg._


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